Glossary of Terms

5

501(c) Groups: Nonprofit, tax-exempt groups organized under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code that can engage in varying amounts of political activity, depending on the type of group. Notably, 501(c) groups are not legally required to disclose any information about their donors. There are several types, including:

• 501(c)(3) groups -- operate for religious, charitable, scientific or educational purposes. These groups are not supposed to engage in any political activities, though some voter registration activities are permitted.

• 501(c)(4) groups -- commonly called "social welfare" organizations. They may engage in political activities, so long as these activities do not become their primary purpose.

• 501(c)(5) labor and agricultural groups, and 501(c)(6) business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards and boards of trade face restrictions similar to 501(c)(4) groups regarding political activities.

527 Committee: A tax-exempt group organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise money for political activities including voter mobilization efforts, issue advocacy and the like. Currently, the FEC only requires a 527 group to file regular disclosure reports if it is a political party or political action committee (PAC) that engages in either activities expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate, or in electioneering communications. Otherwise, it must file either with the government of the state in which it is located or the Internal Revenue Service. Prior to the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2010, many 527s run by special interest groups raise unlimited "soft money," which they used for voter mobilization and certain types of issue advocacy, but not for efforts that expressly advocated the election or defeat of a federal candidate or amount to electioneering communications. The Citizens United ruling allows 527 committees to raise unlimited funds from individuals, corporations and unions to expressly advocate for or against federal candidates, and since the controversial ruling, several so-called 527 groups have registered with the FEC as "super PACs." See also: Issue Advocacy, Political Action Committee, Super PAC and Soft Money

B

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA): When enacted in 2002, BCRA constituted the first major revision of campaign finance law in more than 25 years. BCRA bans unlimited soft money contributions to the national political parties and prohibits federal officeholders from soliciting soft money. In part to compensate for its soft money restrictions, the law increased the limits on "hard money" contributions, which can be given directly to federal candidates and political parties. BCRA also barred special interest groups from spending soft money on so-called "issue ads" that identify a specific federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election. Such ads were widely viewed as thinly veiled attempts to support or oppose a candidate's election with unlimited funds. But in January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prohibition was unconstitutional in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. BCRA is also known as the McCain-Feingold law, after the two senators who sponsored the bill, John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). See also:Federal Election Campaign Act, Hard Money, Issue Advocacy and Soft Money

Buckley v. Valeo: The 1976 Supreme Court case that challenged most of the provisions in the Federal Campaign Election Act, as amended in 1974. The Supreme Court upheld the law's requirements that candidates, parties, PACs and groups engaging in express advocacy disclose their fund-raising and spending. The court also affirmed voluntary public financing and limits on individual contributions. The court struck down, as infringements on free speech, limits on campaign spending (unless the candidate accepts public financing), limits on contributions by candidates to their own campaigns (unless publicly financed) and limits on independent expenditures (election spending by outside interest groups not coordinated with candidates or their committees). See also: Federal Election Campaign Act and Independent Expenditures

Bundling: The practice through which multiple contributions from a single industry, interest group, company or group of individuals are delivered to a candidate. Bundling is a legal practice that can occur one of two ways: 1) an individual or group, known as a conduit or bundler, collects and delivers the contributions in a "bundle" to a candidate (in some cases, the conduit must report bundled contributions to the Federal Election Commission), or 2) individuals from the same industry, interest group or company send contributions that reach a candidate around the same time. In these cases, the person or group who solicited the contributions (the bundler) is often given an identification code that the contributors put on their checks so he gets the credit for bringing in the contributions.

Companies, industries and interest groups organize "bundles" of contributions in order to take credit for a total amount greatly exceeding what could be given by an individual or PAC. This gives them much greater impact than a trickle of apparently unrelated individual checks. Examples of conduit groups that bundle political contributions of like-minded donors include ActBlue (for Democratic causes), EMILY's List (for pro-choice female Democratic causes) and Club for Growth (for conservative causes).See also:Conduit

C

Campaign Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by a candidate to finance a campaign for state or federal office. All campaign committees file regular campaign finance reports -- usually once a quarter -- with the Federal Election Commission that detail their donors and expenditures.

Candidate-to-Candidate Giving:

Contributions made by members of Congress whose seats are considered safe to candidates facing difficult elections. A lawmaker may make a contributions out of his or her campaign account, leadership PAC and personal funds. Current contribution limits from a lawmaker's campaign account or personal funds to a candidate are $2,500 per election (primary and general). PACs may contribute up to $5,000 per election. Click here to see candidate-to-candidate giving during the 2010 election cycle.

Carey Committee: A Carey committee is a political action committee that is not affiliated with a candidate and has the ability to operate both as a traditional PAC, contributing funds to a candidate's committee, and as a super PAC, which makes independent expenditures. To do so, Carey committees must have a separate bank account for each purpose. The committee can collect unlimited contributions from almost any source for its independent expenditure account, but may not use those funds for its traditional PAC contributions.
See also: super PAC and independent expenditures and Political Action Committee

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: A U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled in a 5-4 decision in January 2010 to allow corporations and unions to use their general treasuries to pay for political advertisements that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate -- or independent expenditures. The decision also allowed nonprofit groups to use corporate or union funds to air electioneering communications within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election, which had previously been prohibited since the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

Coalition: A group of similar-minded organizations or individuals who have joined together to lobby for a specific cause. Because of their size, coalitions often wield more influence among elected officials than do individual organizations that lobby alone. Some coalitions, such as the Business Roundtable, do not reveal their membership, making the money spent on campaign contributions and lobbying difficult to determine within a coalition.

Communication Costs: Expenditures by corporations for communications, such as emails, to their stockholders and employees (and their families), or by labor unions to their members (and their families), expressly calling for the election or defeat of a federal candidate. Those costs must be reported to the FEC beginning with the first reporting period in which the aggregate of such costs comes to more than $2,000 per election.

Compliance Funds: Money raised by presidential candidates who have accepted public financing to hire lawyers and accountants to ensure the campaign is in compliance with federal election law. Presidential candidates may raise up to $2,500 in compliance funds from individual donors, who may already have given the maximum to the candidate's primary campaign. Compliance funds give contributors a way to enhance their giving to the candidate. Compliance funds also allow candidates to raise private contributions during the general election, when candidates receiving public funding are prohibited from fund-raising for their campaign accounts. Candidates still in the race by April 1 of the election year customarily form such accounts (the FEC bars the creation of compliance funds before then). Compliance funds are exempt from all spending limits, but cannot be spent on campaign ads. Also called GELAC (General Election Legal and Accounting Compliance) funds.

Conduit: An intermediary that passes along earmarked contributions to a candidate. The conduit, usually an organization, operates in one of two ways: The organization can collect multiple checks made out to a candidate, bundle them together and deliver them to the candidate. (Bundled contributions delivered through a conduit must be reported to the Federal Election Commission.) The second method is reserved for PACs. The PAC can receive checks made out to itself, with the candidate's name in the memo line. The PAC then deposits the checks into its account and sends the candidate a single check for the same amount. See also: Bundling and Political Action Committee

Congressional Committee: A House or Senate committee that has special jurisdiction over certain issues, such as transportation, defense or agriculture. Bills introduced in Congress generally are amended, or "marked up," in committee before being voted on by the full House or Senate. A lawmaker who sits on a committee with jurisdiction over well-financed groups or industries, such as appropriations or budget, greatly increases his or her fund-raising profile among donors hoping to influence committee actions.

Contribution Limits: The rules governing how much an individual or PAC can contribute to a federal candidate, PAC or party committee.

Under federal law, an individual during the 2012 election cycle may contribute:

$2,500 to a candidate per election (primary and general are considered two different elections)

$30,800 to a national political party committee per year

$5,000 to a PAC per year

A PAC may contribute:

$5,000 to a candidate per election (primary and general)

$15,000 to a political party per year

$5,000 to another PAC per year

Until 2014, there was also a limit on how much an individual could give overall to candidates, parties and PACs combined. That cap was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case called McCutcheon v. FEC. And there are no limits on how much an individual, union or corporation can give to a super PAC or politically active nonprofit.

Convention Funds: In 2014, President Obama signed into law a measure ending the use of public funds -- raised through a voluntary contributions from taxpayers through a checkoff on individual tax returns -- to help political parties pay for their presidential nominating conventions. The Democratic and Republican parties each received about $18 million for their 2012 conventions. The funds come out of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which is financed by voluntary contributions from taxpayers through a check-off on individual tax returns.

D

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: The Democratic Party's chief fund-raising committee for candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives. The DCCC could accept both hard and soft money donations until November 2002, when soft money donations to the national parties were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The DCCC can provide Democratic House candidates and vulnerable incumbents with direct assistance, such as staffers, as well as indirect assistance, such as independent expeditures and other advertisements run on their behalf or targeting their opponents. See also: National Republican Congressional Committee

Democratic National Committee: The main fund-raising arm of the Democratic Party. The DNC could accept both hard and soft money donation until November 2002, when soft money donations to national parties were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The DNC also runs the Democratic Party's convention to nominate a candidate for president. After Barack Obama's election in 2008, the DNC implemented a policy of refusing political contributions from registered lobbyists. See also: Republican National CommitteeHard Money,Soft Money

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: The Democratic Party's chief fund-raising committee for candidates to the U.S. Senate. The DSCC could accept both hard and soft money donations until November 2002, when soft money donations to the national parties were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The DCCC can provide Democratic House candidates and vulnerable incumbents with direct assistance, such as staffers, as well as indirect assistance, such as independent expeditures and other advertisements run on their behalf or targeting their opponents.See also: National Republican Senatorial Committee

E

Election Cycle: The two-year time period leading up to a general federal election. The 2012 election cycle, for example, consists of the entire calendar years of 2011 and 2012. All 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as one-third of the U.S. Senate, are up for election each cycle. Presidential elections occur every other election cycle.

Electioneering Communications: Broadcast advertisements, for television or radio, that 1) air within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, 2) mention or refer to a federal candidate and 3) are aimed at 50,000 or more members of the electorate of the office the candidate is seeking. These expenditures must be reported to the Federal Election Commission. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 barred special interest groups from spending unregualted soft money on these types of issue ads, but the U.S. Supreme Court has since rejected that prohibition as unconstitutional.

Exploratory Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by an individual who is considering a run for federal office. Once the individual declares his or her candidacy, the exploratory committee becomes a campaign committee. An exploratory committee does not have to file reports on its financial activity until the individual decides to run, but all contribution limits and prohibitions apply, the same as they do to campaign committees. To avoid the question of when he or she has formally begun to run for office, an individual often will file reports as a "candidate," while publicly maintaining that he or she is still only exploring the possibility of running. This has been especially true of presidential candidates in recent years.

Express Advocacy: Political communications, often in the form of television and radio advertisements, that explicitly advocate for the defeat or election of a clearly identified federal candidate. The express advocacy legal standard was first articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court as a way to distinguish independent issue ads that could be paid for with soft money and candidate advocacy, which could be regulated under federal law. An interest group that expressly advocates to the general public in written or broadcast communications must pay for the effort with limited hard money contributions.

In the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, the Supreme Court listed examples of words that constitute express advocacy, including "vote for," "elect," "defeat," "support," "vote against," "reject," "Smith for Congress" and "cast your ballot for." Under that decision, any advertising independent of a candidate or political party that does not include express advocacy could be paid for with soft money. Limited hard money contributions could be used to pay for written or broadcast communications that expressly advocated for or against a candidate.

F

FEC Commissioner: The Federal Election Commission has six commissioners who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party, which has resulted in an even split among commissioners (three Democrat, three Republican) since the FEC's creation. The commissioners hold public meetings where they adopt new regulations and issue advisory opinions. Pending enforcement actions and litigation are discussed in closed-door meetings. Commissioners are limited to one six-year term, although some continue to serve after their terms have expired if no one else is appointed to replace them.

Federal Candidate: An individual running for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, presidency or vice presidency. The Federal Election Commission requires federal candidates who have received more than $5,000 in contributions or spent more than $5,000 on their campaigns to file campaign finance reports.

Federal Election Campaign Act: The 1971 law that is the basis of all modern campaign finance regulations. It was amended in 1974, 1976, 1979 and, most recently, 2002. The law requires full, timely disclosure of federal campaign contributions. It prohibits unions and corporations from using general treasury funds to influence federal elections, but allows them to solicit voluntary contributions from members, employees and stockholders through political action committees (PACs). Following the campaign finance abuses of the 1972 presidential race, the law was amended in 1974 to provide the option of public financing for presidential elections, and to set contribution limits for individuals and PACs. The 1974 amendments also set spending limits for candidates, although this provision was later struck down by the Supreme Court as an infringement on free speech. The 1974 amendments also created the Federal Election Commission to enforce and administer campaign finance regulations.

In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act amended the law to ban soft money donations to the national parties, prohibit federal officeholders from raising soft money, restrict the use of soft money for "issue ads" and increase hard money contribution limits. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to prohibit corporations and unions from using money from their treasuries on indpendent poltical advertisements and overturned the soft money requirement to fund issue ads. See also: Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002and Buckley v. Valeo

Federal Election Commission: The independent regulatory agency responsible for the civil enforcement and administration of the campaign finance law. Federal candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives, the presidency or the vice presidency file quarterly reports with the FEC disclosing contributions and expenditures, which must be itemized if they amount to more than $200. U.S. Senate candidates file with the Secretary of the Senate, which then forwards the reports to the FEC. The agency regulates public financing of presidential campaigns and can seek fines against campaigns that violate campaign finance laws. Six commissioners, appointed by the president, oversee the FEC. No more than three commissioners may be from the same party, a requirement that has resulted in a 3-3 split among Democratic and Republican commissioners throughout the FEC's history. The FEC has been criticized as a weak and slow enforcement agency that rarely takes strong enforcement action against major political players. The FEC Web site is www.FEC.gov

Federal Funds: Money raised by a federal candidate, party or political action committee to finance a federal campaign. Also known as "hard money." See also: Hard Money

G

General Election: An election in which a candidate is elected to public office. Candidates in a general election are chosen in a primary election. Public funds are available to presidential candidates running in a general election, if the candidate agrees to spending limits. See also: Primary Election

General Election Public Funding: Public financing that is available to presidential candidates running in a general election. If a presidential candidate accepts general election public funds, then he or she must agree to spending limits, which are set by law and adjusted for inflation. The candidate receives a grant equal to the spending limit, which equaled $67.56 million during the 2000 election. Candidates who accept public financing are not allowed to raise private funds for the general election, with one exception: They may raise compliance funds to pay for campaign lawyers and accountants. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama became the first candidate to opt out of the public financing system, a move that enabled him to vastly out-raise his Republican opponent, John McCain, who had opted to use public funding.See also: Compliance Funds and Matching Funds

H

Hard Money: The regulated contributions from an individual or PAC to a federal candidate, party committee or other PAC, where the money is used for a federal election. Hard money is subject to contribution limits and prohibitions and can be used to directly support or oppose a candidate running for federal office. Hard money can pay for television ads, mass mailings, bumper stickers, yard signs and other communications that mention a specific candidate. See also: Contribution Limits, Political Action Committee and Soft Money

Host Committee: The fund-raising committee set up by a host city to help defray the costs of a political convention. A city may also set up a host committee to promote itself as a potential convention site. Contributions to a host committee are not regulated. Corporations and labor unions may make large, unlimited contributions to a host committee. So can individuals, even if they have already contributed the maximum amount to a candidate or party. Host committees are often considered a way for political parties to skirt contribution limits and raise soft money for the convention. For the 2012 Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama has banned contributions from registered federal lobbyists, capped donations from individuals at $100,000 and banned corporations from contributing funds (though they will be permitted to provide in-kind contributions such as transportation). See also: Convention Funds

House Term: The two-year period that a member of the U.S. House of Representatives serves in office. House members typically fund-raise during their entire time in office.

I

Inaugural Committee:

A fund-raising committee set up by the president-elect to help pay for the inauguration ceremony and festivities. Contributions to an inaugural committee have no legal limits, meaning donors can give large donations, even if they already gave the maximum amount to the president-elect's campaign committee. An inaugural committee's contributions and expenditures do not have to be disclosed, although the president-elect often voluntarily identifies donors and amounts. Excess inaugural funds could be transferred to the national and state political parties as soft money before the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act went into effect. The BCRA bans the national parties from collecting soft money, but leftover inaugural funds can still go to state and local parties.

Donors to President Barack Obama's 2008 inauguration may be viewed here.

Independent Expenditures: Independent expenditures are advertisements that expressly advocate the election or defeat of specific candidates and are aimed at the electorate as a whole. Under federal rules, these expenditures must be made completely independent of the candidates, with no coordination. In January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations and unions may fund independent expenditures with money from their general treasuries. Prior to that, independent expenditures could only be made by the organization's PAC. In the wake of Citizens United, some groups continue to use their PACs to fund independent expenditures, while others are taking advantage of the new freedom to spend directly from treasury funds or through new "super PACs" that can use unlimited donations to run independent expenditures. Individuals, political parties, unions, corporations, PACs and other groups making independent expenditures must disclose the name of the candidates who benefit and must itemize the amounts spent in a report to the Federal Election Commission. See also: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Express Advocacy, Super PACs.

Individual Contributions: Limited, regulated contributions made by an individual to a candidate's campaign committee, a PAC or a political party. During the 2012 election cycle, individuals may contribute $2,500 per election (primary and general are considered separate elections) to candidates, $5,000 per year to a PAC and $30,800 per year to a political party. Individual contributions are subject to an aggregate limit of $117,000 per two-year election cycle. See also: Contribution Limits

Issue Ads: See Issue Advocacy

Issue Advocacy: Political communications, usually in the form of advertising, that are framed around an issue. Issue advocacy does not specifically instruct the audience to vote for or against a candidate. Issue ads that explicitly mention or depict a federal candidate that are broadcast within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election must be reported to the Federal Election Commission as electioneering communications. See also: Express Advocacy, Independent Expenditures, Electioneering Communications, Independent Expenditures.

J

Joint Fund-raising Committee: A fund-raising committee set up by two or more candidates, political parties or a combination of the two to jointly raise money. All beneficiaries of a joint fund-raising committee share the cost of hosting fund-raisers. In the 2000 and 2002 election cycles, joint fund-raising committees became popular for candidates and parties to raise a combination of hard and soft money. Donors could write one large check, with the candidate receiving the first $2,000 in hard money and the party receiving the rest of the donation as soft money. Because soft money fund-raising by federal candidates is now banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, joint fund-raising committees may only raise limited hard money.See also: Hard Money, Soft Money.

L

Leadership PAC: A fund-raising committee formed by a politician as a way to help fund other candidates' campaigns or pay for certain expenses not related to the campaigns. Leadership PACs are often used by politicians who aspire to leadership positions in Congress. By making donations to other candidates, lawmakers hope to gain clout among their colleagues that the lawmaker will utilize in a bid for a leadership post or committee chairmanship. Politicians also use leadership PACs to lay the groundwork for their own campaigns for higher office. In recent years, leadership PACs have become commonplace, even among freshman members of Congress. Leadership PACs are considered separate from a politician's campaign committee, providing donors with a way around limits on contributions to a candidate's campaign committee. Individuals can contribute up to $5,000 per year to a member's leadership PAC, even if they have already donated the maximum to that member's campaign committee. See also: Political Action Committee, Campaign Committees.

Legal Defense Fund: A special fund established by an elected official to help pay his or her legal bills. Because a legal defense fund is separate from a candidate's campaign committee, contributors who have already given the maximum amount to a campaign can still contribute to a legal defense fund. The House limits contributions to defense funds to $5,000 a year, while the Senate permits donations of $10,000 annually. The House also allows corporations and unions-which cannot give money directly to candidates-to contribute to legal defense funds. The Senate prohibits such donations. Lobbyists are prohibited from donating to legal defense funds for both House members and senators. Contributions to legal defense funds are reported to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. See also: Compliance funds.

Levin Funds: Contributions that state and local parties can spend on voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities related to federal elections. Levin funds are limited to the lesser of $10,000 per donor or the amount that may be given to state and local parties under the applicable state law. Corporations and labor unions may make Levin fund contributions if state law otherwise allows such entities to contribute to state elections. Levin funds are not considered "hard money" and do not count against contribution limits or prohibitions on hard money contributions. They are named after Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), whose amendment to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act created them so that state and local parties could use nonfederal funds for "generic" party-building activities without violating the soft money ban. See also: Hard Moneyand Soft Money

M

Matching Funds: Public funds available to a presidential candidate to help bankroll his or her primary campaign. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund matches up to $250 of each individual contribution to help candidates defray the cost of their primary campaigns. (Contributions from PACs are not matched.) To receive matching funds, candidates must meet certain threshold requirements showing sufficient public support. Candidates also must agree to a number of restrictions, including spending limits during the primary campaign that are set by law and adjusted for inflation. The primary spending limit for the 2011 presidential election currently stands at about $44 million. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush became the first major candidate to opt out of the matching fund system. Bush is again refused matching funds for the 2004 election, as did Democratic candidate John Kerry. During the 2008 presidential primaries, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both opted against matching funds, which allowed them to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in the most expensive primary election to date.See also: General Election Public Funding

Midterm Election: An election held in a year without a presidential race. Overall fund-raising totals during midterm elections are typically lower than those in years with a presidential race. See also: Election Cycle

N

National Republican Congressional Committee: The Republican Party's chief fund-raising committee for candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives. The NRCC could accept both hard and soft money donations until November 2002, when soft money donations to national party committees were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The NRCC can also provide Republican House candidates and vulnerable incumbents with direct assistance, such as staffers, as well as indirect support, such as independent expenditures and other advertisements run on their behalf or targeting their opponents.See also: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

National Republican Senatorial Committee: The Republican Party's chief fund-raising committee for candidates to the U.S. Senate. The NRSC could accept both hard and soft money donations until November 2002, when soft money donations to national party committees were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The NRSC can also provide Republican House candidates and vulnerable incumbents with direct assistance, such as staffers, as well as indirect support, such as independent expenditures and other advertisements run on their behalf or targeting their opponents.See also: Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

P

Personal Financial Disclosure: The financial report that candidates, lawmakers, the president, vice president, presidential appointees and justices of the U.S. Supreme Court must file to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Personal financial disclosure forms are filed annually and detail a politician's investments, assets and income in broad ranges. Members of Congress file with the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House. The president and vice president file with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, as do members of the Cabinet. These reports are available to the public.

Political Action Committee (PAC): A political committee that raises and spends money to elect or defeat candidates. Most PACs represent businesses, such as the Microsoft PAC; labor unions, such as the Teamsters PAC; or ideological interests, such as the EMILY's List PAC or the National Rifle Association PAC. An organization's PAC will solicit money from the group's employees or members and make contributions in the name of the PAC to candidates and political parties. Individuals contributing to a PAC may also contribute directly to candidates and political parties, even those also supported by the PAC.

A PAC can give $5,000 to a candidate per election (primary, general or special) and up to $15,000 annually to a national political party. PACs may receive up to $5,000 each from individuals, other PACs and party committees per year. A PAC must register with the Federal Election Commission within 10 days of its formation, providing the name and address of the PAC, its treasurer and any affiliated organizations. Some PACs also fund political advertisements designed to aid their preferred candidates. Moreover, some PACs -- such as ActBlue, EMILY's List, the Club for Growth and some leadership PACs -- act as conduits to bundle donations to targeted candidates. See also: Bundling, Conduit, Independent Expenditures.

Presidential Election Campaign Fund: A political committee that raises and spends money to elect or defeat candidates. Most PACs represent businesses, such as the Microsoft PAC; labor unions, such as the Teamsters PAC; or ideological interests, such as the EMILY's List PAC or the National Rifle Association PAC. An organization's PAC will solicit money from the group's employees or members and make contributions in the name of the PAC to candidates and political parties. Individuals contributing to a PAC may also contribute directly to candidates and political parties, even those also supported by the PAC.

A PAC can give $5,000 to a candidate per election (primary, general or special) and up to $15,000 annually to a national political party. PACs may receive up to $5,000 each from individuals, other PACs and party committees per year. A PAC must register with the Federal Election Commission within 10 days of its formation, providing the name and address of the PAC, its treasurer and any affiliated organizations. Some PACs also fund political advertisements designed to aid their preferred candidates. Moreover, som PACs -- such as ActBlue, EMILY's List, the Club for Growth and some leadership PACs -- act as conduits to bundle donations to targeted candidates. See also: Bundling, Conduit, Independent Expenditures.

Primary Election: An election in which voters nominate a candidate to run for office in a general election. Public funds are available to a presidential candidate running in a primary election, if the candidate agrees to spending limits. See also: Matching Funds, General Election Public Funds.

Q

Qualified Nonprofit Corporation: Since the mid-1980s, some ideological 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups have sought to be designated as "qualified nonprofit corporations" in order to legally raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and to spend that money on independent expenditures and electioneering communications. As qualified nonprofit corporations, they could not accept money from corporations or unions. Nor could they have significant business income or have electioneering as their major purpose. Qualified nonprofit corporations are not required to disclose their donors unless the donor specifically earmarks their contribution for electioneering. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in 2010 in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, some nonprofit groups that had previously sought this designation are no longer doing so because that ruling freed all 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups to take unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and unions to make independent expenditures and electioneering communications. See also: Electioneering Communications, Independent Expenditures, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 501(c) groups.

Quality of Disclosure: A measure of the proportion of contributor information that is fully disclosed by a campaign. Federal law requires that campaigns itemize all contributions of $200 or more on their campaign finance reports. Campaigns are required to report the name, address, amount and date of such contributions, and must use their "best efforts" to gather and report each donor's occupation and employer. However, there is no requirement that the donor provide the occupation and employer information. The Center for Responsive Politics measures the quality of disclosure for each federal candidate and national political party by displaying the percentage of contributor information a candidate or party has fully disclosed or only partially disclosed. The results reveal which candidates' and parties' contributors we know a lot about, and which candidates' and parties' contributors largely remain a mystery.

R

Recount Fund: A fund-raising committee set up to pay the legal costs of a recount when election results are in dispute. Individual donations to a recount fund have no legal limit and do not have to be disclosed. Contributions from corporations or labor unions are prohibited. Following the disputed 2000 presidential election, both George W. Bush and Al Gore created recount funds. Bush and Gore each chose to reveal at least some of the contributors to those funds.

Republican National Committee: The main fund-raising arm of the Republican Party. The RNC could accept both hard and soft money donations until November 2002, when soft money donations to the national parties were banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The RNC also runs the Republican Party's convention to nominate a candidate for president. See also: Democratic National Committee

S

Senate Term: The six-year period that a senator serves in office. A senator typically raises the bulk of money for his or her re-election campaign during the final two years of the term. However, money can be raised over the entire six-year period. The Center for Responsive Politics displays six years worth of fund-raising activity in profiles of senators to account for these financial ebbs and flows.

Shadow Committee: A nonprofit group with close ties to a political party that collects large soft money contributions to spend on efforts intended to influence the outcome of elections. Shadow committees began to form after passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which prohibits the national political parties from raising soft money. With the soft money ban in effect, many observers expect large amounts of soft money to be funneled to shadow committees instead. Two such groups are Americans Coming Together, which has close ties to the Democratic Party, and the Leadership Forum, which has close ties to the Republican Party. Because shadow committees are not registered with the Federal Election Commission as political committees, they do not disclose their contributions and expenditures to the FEC. However, tax-exempt groups created under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code must file disclosure reports with the IRS (see 527 Group). There is a question about whether these groups are in fact political committees that must register with the FEC and abide by federal contribution limits and prohibitions. A shadow committee that works too closely with a political party could be considered to be coordinating with that party, a finding that could subject both to legal action by the FEC.

Soft Money: Contributions made outside the federal contribution limits to a state or local party, a state or local candidate or an outside interest group. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 banned the national political parties from raising soft money. Unlike hard money, soft money was not supposed advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. At one time, unlimited soft money contributions were routinely solicited and accepted by the national political parties. The money was supposed to be used for state and local elections and generic "party-building" activities, including voter registration campaigns and get-out-the-vote drives. However, the parties increasingly used soft money for so-called "issue" ads that criticized or touted a federal candidate's record just before an election, as well as other activities that were intended to influence the outcome of a federal election. Soft money was considered by many to be a major loophole in campaign finance law that allowed the parties to raise hundreds of millions of unregulated dollars. The Democrats and Republicans together collected more than $500 million in soft money during the 2002 election cycle. See also: Hard Money

Special Election: An election conducted outside the normal time frame for the election for an office. A special election is usually held to replace an officeholder who has resigned, died or retired. Contribution limits are the same as for a general or primary election. See also: Contribution Limits

SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission: A federal court decision in March 2010 that found that it was unconstitutional to impose a contribution limit on groups whose sole purpose was funding independent expenditures. The decision relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission from January 2010, which granted corporations and unions the ability to use their general treasury money for political expenditures. In the wake of the SpeechNow.org decision, scores of new groups -- often called super PACs -- declared to the Federal Election Commission their intent to raise unlimited donations from corporations, unions and individuals. See also: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Federal Election Commission,Independent Expenditures, super PAC, Express Advocacy.

Spending Limits: The dollar limits on the amount of money that presidential candidates who receive public funds may spend on their campaigns. There are separate limits for the primary and general elections. The limits are set by law and adjusted for inflation. As it stands now, the spending limit in the 2012 presidential primary campaign will be about $44 million for each candidate who accepts primary matching funds. The general election limit will be about $88 million. Most of the candidates in the 2012 election are expected to coose not to take public funds, and therefore are not required to stay within the spending limit. See also: General Election Public Funding and Matching Funds

Super PAC: A super PAC, also known as an independent expenditure-only committee, is a type of political action committee that came into existence in 2010 following a federal court decision in SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission. Super PACs may raise and spend unlimited sums of money for the sole purpose of making independent expenditures to support or oppose political candidates. Unlike traditional political action committees, super PACs may not donate money directly to candidates. Super PACs are required to disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission, although some super PACs get around this requirement by listing 501(c) nonprofit groups as their donors -- these groups are not required to disclose their funders. See also: SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Independent Expenditure, Express Advocacy.

T

Transition Fund: A fund-raising committee set up by the president-elect to help pay expenses during the transition between Election Day and the inauguration. Money is raised to pay for office space, staff and other expenses. Contributions to a transition fund, which are not regulated and do not have to be disclosed, supplement the public funding the president-elect receives to help defray costs during the transition. Excess transition funds could be transferred to the national and state political parties as soft money before the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act went into effect. The BCRA bans the national parties from collecting soft money, but leftover transition funds can still go to state and local parties.

W

Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission: An "as applied" legal challenge to restrictions on issue ads that are broadcast within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, or electioneering communications. These restrictions were established by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. In a 5-4 ruling, in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prohibitions on using soft money to fund electioneering communications was unconstitutional as applied to groups like Wisconsin Right to Life. Relying on this case, in January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that all groups could use unrestricted contributions from individuals, corporations and unions to fund electioneering communications. See also: Bipartisan Campaign Act of 2002, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Electioneering Communications, Express Advocacy, Hard Money, Soft Money.

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